Comments on: Wanna be in my gang?

By: Flora Marriott

Flora Marriott — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 06:55:41 +0000

Great post Sukh, and Meg, I love your wise comment. You are absolutely right that peoples’ behaviour on twitter needs not to be taken too seriously. Mostly I find twitter fun and useful and it’s befn wonderful for meeting people.
Sukh’s reminder not to be cliquey is useful – I don’t want to only interact with the people I’ve already met; instead I do hope I continue to meet more people. Also I think it’s fun to follow a really diverse bunch. Eg I enjoy reading education related tweets.

By: Fiona Quigley

Fiona Quigley — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 12:23:56 +0000

Hi Sukh,

Boy did this post resonate with me. Somehow as humans we do like to seek out our own and draw them close to us. It is one of our great strengths but also a great weakness. I recall when I first joined twitter last year and took part in my first twitter chat – I immediately got blocked by the chat organiser becuase I didn’t ask the right questions. And funny enough, recently that person has unblocked me, because, well…I guess I am saying the right stuff now!

It was very silly, but I felt like I was back in school and had been excluded from the “popular kids”.

I agree wigth Nial – it can feel like you are eavesdropping dropping on other conversations. Twitter is one of the most “democratic” social media tools available. I love how the mix of professions and people from all over the world can get together and chew the fat about anything. It is our modern day amphitheatre, but we need to be careful not to stone or jeer the inclusion away.

Best wishes,
Fiona.

By: Sukh Pabial

Sukh Pabial — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 10:34:05 +0000

I think you’re right, the vast majority are fine with a little interjection. I guess when you’ve been using it as long as I have, you can start to see that some people get protective over such things, as they do in real life.

By: Sukh Pabial

Sukh Pabial — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 10:29:19 +0000

There is certainly an interesting set of dynamics with hashtags on Twitter, and I guess that’s what I’m making mention of here. We play with them as we see fit. I tend to watch the hashtags and see if and when I can play with them.

I agree, I wouldn’t be without Twitter, and we have to just find a way to make it work for us.

By: Meg Peppin

Meg Peppin — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 16:06:40 +0000

That’s interesting Niall. I totally get that. And I think this is a great blog subject Sukh.

Having been tweeting just for a few months, it has taken a while to work it all out. I have a bit of fun with the hashtags, my favourite being #wassock (bless you Father Rick) although it’s an epithet more than a group (who’d wanna be in that one).

I guess twitter is just a reflection of life in relation to people getting a bit cliquey. I don’t often feel excluded but when I do, I reckon it’s either me imagining it, or occasionally it’s true and then I behave on twitter as I do – just ignoring any silliness and trying not to take it personally. If someone is doesn’t want me to dip into a public conversation, then I figure that’s their issue not mine. The vast majority seem to enjoy a little interjection, and that seems to be how we’re all meeting each other.

Thank you for writing this.

By: Niall Gavin (@niallgavinuk)

Niall Gavin (@niallgavinuk) — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 15:34:33 +0000

Great post Sukh, which touched on themes I have been thinking about myself. Indeed, my last blog post, on Jargon and the (over) use of acronyms as barriers to inclusion, is directly related. I was interested to see you use the word ‘clique’ here in relation to Twitter, because I often feel uncomfortable, almost as tho’ I’m eavesdropping, when some people use Twitter as a transparent – and showy – interpersonal communication tool. There’s an element of “look at us, we’re having a really interesting conversation about [insert topic here]…”, when, in fact, it’s a private conversation. It clutters up my timeline and is an unnecessary distraction. All that said, I think #tags are great, for isolating topics and subject matter sharers. I wouldn’t want to be without Twitter – and contributors like yourself – either!